With rising fuel costs, an important design goal of vehicle information systems is to provide drivers, and especially drivers of long-haul trucks, with information about fuel economy during operation of the vehicle. Many vehicles display a measure of fuel economy such as the gas mileage in miles per gallon. While this information is helpful, it does not give the driver specific feedback on how specific driving actions impact fuel economy. In addition, it fails to provide a measure of excess fuel consumption due to specific types of driving actions. Drivers are less likely to get information that can help them improve fuel economy from these fuel economy measures, and thus, are more likely to ignore them.
Modern motor vehicles are typically equipped with a variety of onboard computers for measuring and recording vehicle performance and diagnostic data. These devices provide a great deal of information about the performance of the vehicle during operation. The problem is not lack of information, but rather, evaluating it and conveying it to the driver in a useful fashion. There is a need for a fuel efficiency indicator that uses this data to assist the driver to operate the vehicle more efficiently and take actions that avoid excess fuel consumption.